It’s here. The first day (not officially of the season I guess until Monday) of summer break. End-of-year meetings wrapped up yesterday, and it was nice to not have to set an alarm this morning (even if the biological alarms of my children will keep us from sleeping in any time soon). So here’s what I’ve got planned:
To do list:
- Write a summer reading list. I was very successful with last summer’s list, so we’ll see how the addition of another child impacts the amount of reading that gets done! Last summer some colleagues and I put together a Google Doc book list club, which turns out to be a great way to share recommendations. Individual conversations are also good, of course.
- Read those books.
- Grow some more vegetables. I‘ve got German Queen tomatoes, cucumbers, Ancho chiles, and zucchini started, plus basil, chives, parsley, rosemary, and thyme (no sage though). Will probably add more tomatoes and some other things, depending on how much space I can carve out for raised beds or boxes.
- Compost. (see item above.)
- Field Trips. Stamford Nature Center, the beach, cooking reconnaissance trips to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx (for pork and olives), trips to the grandparents to visit family, two weddings, and a weekend in Chicago to catch up with the wedding party for a buddy’s wedding in October (with a game at Wrigley in the bleachers!), and maybe to possibly find the best Italian Sub in Chicago…
- In August (or continuously on the back burner, in the best way), thoughts on making changes to, updating, and improving curriculum and school plans for September.
- Slow cooking, in all of its incarnations. The slow, handmade, and local kind, but also brined, cured, pickled, aged, or smoked. These food projects include several sausage recipes to try out, a fermented dry sausage/salami like a saucisson sec (the first round of dried salamis back in February was a huge success), and pickles.
- Keep a little more current on the blog. This spring has been nuts. And good. Family and school definitely took priority, as they should. But I’d like to continue to make connections in education through writing here, linking up with other educators, sharing ideas, and growing my PLN (Twitter Personal Learning Network).
a summer reading list is such a satisfying thing to make, isn’t it? great idea; reading about it in your post will get me to putting one together!
Thanks, Caryn. I’ll put my list up as a new post in the next few days, and I’m always looking for recommendations. I’ll ask our dear readers.